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Saturday 5th October 2024

Brakes welcomed Scarborough Athletic to Warwickshire on a beautifully sunny October afternoon in front of a season’s high attendance of 902 as Paul Holleran’s side looked to put their disappointing FA Cup exit behind them. 

There were three changes to the starting eleven from the previous Saturday, Jack Edwards replacing the injured Joe Doyle-Charles, while Tim Berridge and Rob Evans returned in place of Ant Lynn and Theo Streete. 

With the two sides sitting level on points in the table this was always likely to be a close affair. Luca Colville saw a first minute effort saved by Callum Hawkins as the two sets of fans were settling at their respective ends of the ground. 

Brakes looked a little unsure on their feet in the opening exchanges as the Seadogs, backed by a vociferous travelling support, seized every opportunity to put their hosts under pressure. Colville fired a free kick just over the crossbar. 

It took a little under twenty minutes for any kind of threat on the Scarborough goal to materialise. Dan Meredith’s looping right wing cross landed on the roof of the net, but it took a driving run from Cally Stewart and a powerful strike deflected off Kieren Weledji which forced a fine save from Ryan Whitley to wake the home support from their slumber. Whitley got a good fist to the resulting corner kick. 

Stewart had the crowd applauding once more when he outpaced the Scarborough defence down right and unselfishly attempted to find Berridge with a low cross, but it was just ahead of the former Coalville man. 

The game was starting to swing from end to end now, and Colville clattered the Leamington bar with his third strike of the afternoon. The momentum was with the Seadogs again now, and they almost capitalised on a rare mistake by George Ward, whose attempted headed clearance dropped for a Scarborough man, but a rising drive cleared the crossbar. The visitors quickly saw another effort go the same way, but Leamington countered, Berridge setting up Henry Landers for a low strike that went just the wrong side of the right hand post. The visitors saw another effort fly off target seconds before the half time whistle went on an entertaining 45 minutes of football. 

The visitors hit the front on 56 minutes, and it was a disappointing goal to concede from a Leamington perspective. Scarborough were allowed to pass their way into the penalty area from the left wing far too easily, and two shots were blocked before Colville finally got the goal his performance had deserved, slotting past a grounded Hawkins.

With things looking like they were going south, Leamington levelled things up out of the blue inside ten minutes. Whitley’s clearance out of play half way through the Scarborough half was hurled into the box by Evans, and when the ball was recycled back into the box Ward launched himself airborne and executed an outrageous overhead kick from Edwards’ nod back across goal to haul his side back into the game. 

Naturally this galvanised Brakes, and a good move up the right ended with Meredith setting up Adam Walker for a low strike that was held by Whitley. 

Scarborough came close to restoring their lead when Weledji’s inviting right wing centre was headed narrowly wide by substitute Harry Green. 

The visitors came closest to winning it in added time when substitute Cameron Wilson’s mazy run to the edge of the penalty area saw him set up Green, who drove his shot straight at Hawkins. However, both sides had to settle for a point from what was a good advert for National League football. 

‘It was probably our toughest game of the season,’ said the manager afterwards. ‘With the preparation for the game with the analysts and the work we do, you watch Scarborough this year and they have probably just gone up another notch from last year. 

‘I was pleased with the first half because the way they play; with the inverted wide men and the full backs stepping in to play, they get so many overloads, but we kept a good shape, had good discipline. Then the key thing was, when we won the ball back then, our system’s got the width. I thought we did that three or four times, and we looked a real threat on the turnover, but you’ve got to do more of that to keep them back. So second half when we didn’t do that, they are quite confident to step into play more.

‘First half when we’ve picked up a few more bits in there; got that pass into our seven and eleven, and then they’re sort of struggling to deal with that, so that keeps them at bay a bit more. That was probably the difference in the first half, and then certainly from 45 to 65 minutes when they sort of really got on top. 

‘We had two or three really good chances, so I was pleased with the fact that, knowing what a good side they are’ I was pleased that the chink in their armour, we we managed to exploit it. Second half they’ve then come out like a train and we’ve struggled for 15-20 minutes. We got a bit sloppy, failed to clear our lines properly. They’ve got an overload here for the goal and it’s bouncing around our box. At that point then you’re thinking, here we go, because they’re probably the best side that’s come here so far. We’re 1-0 down, they’ve got good support behind them, which way are we going to go here? But then we came back into the game, we didn’t have the quality we had in the first half, but with the set play, one of the key things you’ve got to do is keep the ball alive, so we’ve kept it alive, and it’s a wonderful finish from George - again. I think I might have to start playing him up front!!  

‘Being honest I think we’ll be the happier team with the draw, but I think they’ll be glad to come away from here with something, because what has been good this year so far is that the boys are making it a really tough place to come to. There’s been a couple of performances here recently where we’ve scored some goals, we’ve had a lot of the ball, we’ve got on top in games. We’ve had to dig in today, because these have got a bit of everything. 

‘One of the reasons we’ve worked so hard to get into this league is that we want to test ourselves against clubs like Scarborough, and yet again we’ve done alright today; some of the young boys have done alright today, and you hope with the experience of these games we will get better, and that’s what we’ll endeavour to do.’ 

Visiting boss Jonathan Greening was happy with his side’s performance, despite feeling that they could have won. ‘It was always going to be a difficult game. Leamington are unbeaten in the league for five or six games like ourselves. We mentioned to the boys before the game that we need to be on it today because they’re very good at home. I watched their game against Oxford City - they were very good going forward, defensively very sound. I thought we started the game really well, the first fifteen minutes we controlled it really well. We got a bit sloppy for 10-15 minutes and gave them a few half chances but we had so many chances in the first half, so it was just one of those things at half time - coming in at 0-0 you want more of the same really - but probably a little more end product in the final third. We get the goal and we’re looking good, but then they start going for the game a little bit, and then a couple of mistakes from us gift them a goal really. Bad pass, bad back pass, bad clearance; out of play, gives them the opportunity to put the ball in the box from the long throw. We don’t deal with the first ball in, it goes back out, comes back in… To be fair to the guy, his overhead kick was a great finish.

‘Then we pushed it, made some more attacking changes to try and go and win the game. We’ve had a few half chances but it just wasn’t meant to be really. We tried to get the win but we couldn’t get it over the line.’ 

Goalscorer Ward spoke to BBC CWR’s Brian Halford on his wonder strike: “D’you know what, I don’t think I can really remember what happened if I’m being honest! I was in the box, I think it came out from the second phase, someone slung the ball back in, Jack’s headed it back across and I just, went for it really. It’s one of those where you just turn round, it’s in the back of the net and, I didn’t know how to celebrate, like I haven’t for the first two goals I scored this season! 

‘We defended a lot in that game. It was tough, but when we went forward we looked like we were going to score, so on the whole I think we definitely deserved a point. 

‘Obviously coming up from Step 3 you think we might struggle, but we’ve got a lot of young lads as the gaffer says, and I think we’re stepping up to the plate. With the experience of the likes of Theo Streete and Jack Edwards, we’re all going together with it. It’s exciting. 

‘I feel like I have settled in quickly. From the first day of pre season when I came in I’ve got along with so many of the lads. It’s a great changing room to be in really.’

Attendance: 902

Leamington: 1 Callum Hawkins, 2 Dan Meredith, 3 Josh Quaynor, 6 Rob Evans, 14 George Ward, 17 Ewan Williams, 8 Adam Walker ©, 10 Jack Edwards, 7 Henry Landers (12 Will Shorrock, 79), 11 Tim Berridge (19 Ant Lynn, 77), 9 Cally Stewart.

Subs not used: 5 Theo Streete, 18 Ted Rowe, GK Jacob Humphries.

Scarborough Athletic: 1 Ryan Whitley, 17 Dom Tear (20 Cameron Wilson, 79), 2 Kieren Weledji, 14 Alex Wiles (10 Harry Green, 64), 24 MacKenzie Maltby, 11 Luca Colville, 26 Richard Bennett (9 Frank Mulhern, 72), 21 Alex Brown, 7 Kieran Glynn (4 Lewis Maloney, 64), 6 Bailey Gooda ©, 8 Alex Purver. 

Sub not used: 5 Will Thornton. 

Referee: Mr Harry Warner

Assistant Referees: Mr Matthew Jackson & Mr Joshua Brookland

Fourth Official: Mr Lewis Mountain

Brakes Man of Match: George Ward. 

Photos: Chris Simpson.